NEW ORLEANS (AP) — After a landslide win, New Orleans Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu, the son of the city's last white mayor, said Sunday his victory reflected a desire for unity in a city riven by the trauma of Hurricane Katrina and racial conflict.
Drawing support across racial lines, Landrieu, who serves as Louisiana's lieutenant governor, will replace term-limited Mayor Ray Nagin on May 3. He won 66 percent of the vote in an open primary election on Saturday and avoided a runoff.
At a news conference Sunday, Landrieu said the vote "was the beginning of a rebirth." Landrieu said his large margin of victory was "a loud clarion call" by the citizens "that they want to come together and be one city again."
